Congressional Thanksgiving Day Proclamation, November 1, 1777 (click to enlarge)

FORASMUCH as it is the indispensable Duty of all Men to adore the superintending Providence of Almighty God; to acknowledge with Gratitude their Obligation to him for Benefits received, and to implore such farther Blessings as they stand in Need of: And it having pleased him in his abundant Mercy, not only to continue to us the innumerable Bounties of his common Providence; but also to smile upon us in the Prosecution of a just and necessary War, for the Defense and Establishment of our unalienable Rights and Liberties; particularly in that he hath been pleased, in so great a Measure, to prosper the Means used for the Support of our Troops, and to crown our Arms with most signal success:

It is therefore recommended to the legislative or executive Powers of these UNITED STATES to set apart THURSDAY, the eighteenth Day of December next, for SOLEMN THANKSGIVING and PRAISE: That at one Time and with one Voice, the good People may express the grateful Feelings of their Hearts, and consecrate themselves to the Service of their Divine Benefactor; and that, together with their sincere Acknowledgments and Offerings, they may join the penitent Confession of their manifold Sins, whereby they had forfeited every Favor; and their humble and earnest Supplication that it may please GOD through the Merits of JESUS CHRIST, mercifully to forgive and blot them out of Remembrance; That it may please him graciously to afford his Blessing on the Governments of these States respectively, and prosper the public Council of the whole: To inspire our Commanders, both by Land and Sea, and all under them, with that Wisdom and Fortitude which may render them fit Instruments, under the Providence of Almighty GOD, to secure for these United States, the greatest of all human Blessings, INDEPENDENCE and PEACE: That it may please him, to prosper the Trade and Manufactures of the People, and the Labor of the Husbandman, that our Land may yield its Increase: To take Schools and Seminaries of Education, so necessary for cultivating the Principles of true Liberty, Virtue and Piety, under his nurturing Hand; and to prosper the Means of Religion, for the promotion and enlargement of that Kingdom, which consisteth “in Righteousness, Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost.”

And it is further recommended, that servile Labor and Recreation, although at other Times innocent, may be unbecoming the Purpose of this Appointment, be omitted on so solemn an Occasion.

In a new afterword to his memoir, 1960s radical William Ayers describes himself as a “family friend” of President-elect Barack Obama and writes that the campaign controversy over their relationship was an effort by Obama’s political enemies to “deepen a dishonest narrative” about the candidate.

Ayers describes phone threats and hate e-mail he received during the campaign, and he bemoans Obama’s guilt by association.

During the campaign, Ayers’ friendship with Obama was a favorite subject of conservative bloggers and talk show hosts who insisted the two were closer than the candidate was admitting. Ayers’ new description of the relationship seems to contradict Obama’s statements.

Obama had dismissed Ayers as “a guy who lives in my neighborhood” and “somebody who worked on education issues in Chicago that I know.”

Obama is indeed a very talented individual. He possesses a very exquisite skill to lie without technically lying. And we are a very special country – full of suckers who bought snake oil.

Does it make sense to bail out GM and others? On the one hand, they are starting to have a lot of good products, so they might have future. On the other hand, they are mired in UAW contracts which make it difficult to be competitive.

Because of the UAW, Obama will probably bail them out. But it might be just money thrown away, and they will be asking for more handouts again in a few years.

Maybe bankruptcy would be better. Then whatever would remain of the Big Three would be more competitive.

Total worker compensation per hour in auto and other industries

Here are some interesting posts about the financial problems of the Big Three:

I know, this video is already old (June 11), but it is interesting to watch it now that Obama has been elected.

You can find full transcript at Memri. Here are some of the best quotes (my comments in Blue):

Mu’ammar Al-Qaddafi: “It has been proven that there is no democracy in [the U.S.]. Rather, it is a dictatorship no different than the dictatorships of Hitler, Napoleon, Mussolini, Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great, and the rest of the tyrants. [here he is channeling Rev. Wright and Bernardine Dohrn]

… “There are elections in America now. Along came a black citizen of Kenyan African origins, a Muslim, who had studied in an Islamic school in Indonesia. His name is Obama. [interesting how Gaddafi considers Obama to be a Muslim]

“All the people in the Arab and Islamic world and in Africa applauded this man. They welcomed him and prayed for him and for his success, and they may have even been involved in legitimate contribution campaigns to enable him to win the American presidency.” [it looks like it was really easy to make fraudulent contributions via Obama’s website]

… “But we were taken by surprise when our African Kenyan brother [Obama], who is an American national, made statements that shocked all his supporters in the Arab world, in Africa, and in the Islamic world. [i.e. Obama said some things that Gaddafi did not like]

“We hope that this is merely an elections ‘clearance sale,’ as they say in Egypt – in other words, merely an elections lie. As you know, this is the farce of elections – a person lies and lies to people, just so that they will vote for him, and afterwards, when they say to him, ‘You promised this and that,’ he says: ‘No, this was just elections propaganda.’ This is the farce of democracy for you. He says: ‘This was propaganda, and you thought I was being serious. I was fooling you to get your votes.’[Here Gaddafi might be for once right.]

… “Kennedy was killed [by Israelis] because he insisted on the monitoring of the Dimona [nuclear] plant. This image was undoubtedly on Obama’s mind. He undoubtedly wanted to talk about this [i.e. the need to monitor Dimona], but decided not to.”[…]

… “The thing we fear most is that the black man suffers from an inferiority complex. This is dangerous. If our brother Obama feels that because he is black he doesn’t have the right to rule America, this would be a disaster, because such a feeling would make him act whiter than the white, and go to an extreme in his persecution and degradation of the blacks.

… “We are still hoping that this black man will take pride in his African and Islamic identity, and in his faith, and that [he will know] that he has rights in America, and that he will change America from evil to good, and that America will establish relations that will serve it well with other peoples, especially the Arabs.”